Prayers and good wishes to the people of Uganda today as they remember and celebrate the sacrifices of the Ugandan Martyrs. #PrayforUs!
Help us lift up the missionaries and families in Uganda by supporting our scholarship fund, school enhancements, youth development, health fund, and livelihood initiatives.
Donate today!
During holy week this year a big storm blew through Tororo Uganda and took the roof off St. Joseph College’s main classroom building. Leaving students and teachers quite alarmed and exposed. They are currently renting a hall at a guest house near the campus to make up for the lost classroom. St. Joseph College is already busting at the seam with 140 students from Senior 1 through Senior 4 and a P7 class. The missing roof has exasperated the problem and the exposed walls and building to more damage.
We are stepping in to help raise $20,000 to replace the full roof and other necessary renovations to the foundation, walls, windows, and doors. Will you join us to help these youth stay in school getting a good catholic education?
Thank you American Martyrs parish and FOAG for stepping in to help! Construction of the new roof begins this week. We are still seeking funds to help replace the windows and doors, paint, and provide much needed solar power for the school. Join hands with us and donate today!
Construction has begun. Stay tuned for more.
You are invited for High Tea at Williams Place
Saturday, May 20th, 3-5pm
Hosted by Michelle Waters Williams & Laura Frederick
R.S.V.P. by May 18th
Life in Uganda is hard. After two decades of conflict, difficult repatriation, a global pandemic that resulted in further economic hardships, severe weather shifts–too much to too little rain destroying crops most people in northern Uganda are battered and desperate. YOUFRA (Young Franciscans) steered by Sr. Margaret Awor, LSOSF, and her team are working to help counsel and reconcile families, guide faith formation, improve livelihoods, and ensure the next generation of children don’t also miss out on education. We are stepping into help YOUFRA members and their families renew their hope and faith in God and life.
Join us May 20th for High Tea and hear Laura Frederick, Founder of eChange Endeavors, share stories of the lives that have been touched by our support. Laura has been working in Uganda since 2000 and lived there between 2006 to 2011.
We are seeking to raise $14,500 for the YOUFRA Youth Centre in Lira to renovate the building and facilitate greater program delivery. Funds will be used to refurbish the outdoor bathrooms (showers and toilet) at the Centre as well as much needed basic repairs to the building, plus purchase furniture (tables, chairs, and beds) along with materials and facilitation for programs. These improvements will enable YOUFRA to host retreats and trainings for 25-150 young adults in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s at a time. Having a place to take a break from home to sing, pray, laugh, learn and connect with other youth renews their hearts, minds and dreams and builds skills among the youth. Retreats are focused on the Sacraments, spiritual formation, and strengthening families. Trainings cover topics such as shoe making, hair styling, baking, farming, communication, team building, financial management, and beyond. Will you join us and make a gift of $100 to $1,000 or more today?
Donate Now!!
We have reached $9,300 towards our goal of $14,500. Could you help us bridge the gap?
Join hands with us today and give to help this community recover from two decades of civil war. Through counseling, livelihood and life skill training we are helping a generation of youth reclaim their lives. We support former child abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army who lost their opportunity to education and now economically disadvantaged in the community to thrive and provide for their families. Donate Now!
The new L – shaped design will have 6 toilets with two basins each for the ladies and gents, plus 5 shower stalls. A clean, beautiful and modern look for the area. We are reusing all the bricks we can in the innovations. We are refurbishing the toilet doors for new shower stall doors. Moving the solar water heater that hasn’t been used from the other-side of the center to install on the bathroom to provide warm piped water. We are making use of paint that helps repel mosquitoes to reduce chances of malaria. This will be a great inspiration for the whole community as well as having a functional benefit.
Donate Now!!
Donate Now!!
YOUFRA Youth Centre in Lira provides support to former abductees–men and women, in the Lord’s Resistance Army and their children. They under went severe mental and physical hardships while in captivity. 17 years later they are still suffering from lack of education and employment opportunities, mental traumas, and stigmas in the community. Tragically these stigmas are also being passed down to the next generation. The Little Sister of St Fancis through the Young Franciscans of Uganda (YOUFRA) are working to help heal and reconcile the families. One key strategy is providing economic opportunities for the former abductees and educational opportunities for their children.
The Youth Centre is home or boarding to about 15 different children plus a few mothers and staff. To help improve diets and sustainability of the center we want to help them convert this old cow shed (see photos above) into a chicken house. The free range chickens will be more protected from cats and birds and they will be able to acquire laying chickens too. Both eggs and meat will compliment the vegetables and onions from the garden and their main crops (beans & corn), which will greatly improve their health. We are seeking $650 for the chicken house renovation and start-up.
As well, we are seeking $550 for the children for mattresses, sheets, blankets, socks, under wear, soccer balls, jump ropes, puzzles, pack backs and a nice Christmas dinner. Plus extra clothes and shoes for Obed, the boy by himself in photo below, is 12 years old. He was brought to the center when he was 6 years old and left to be cared for by Sr Margaret, LSOSF. Besides a school uniform he possesses only the long sleeve shirt and trousers he is wearing, and one other t-shirt and shorts. He needs basically anything and everything—fleece/sweater, trousers, shirts, shorts, tennis shoes, flipflops/sandals, personal care products, and reading materials.
We have the opportunity to bring renewed hope to these children and their families as we begin a new liturgical year and a new calendar year. Might you be willing to be a Magi to these children bringing your wisdom, prayers, and treasures?
Thank you. May God’s mercy, love and joy abound in your hearts and families this Christmas!!
Greetings Friends,
On this the Feast of the Uganda Martyrs, June 3rd, I wish you a blessed day and year! Thank you for all the ways you support the Catholic Missionaries and families in Uganda. Your prayers are invaluable to me and for them. Your financial support is catalytic. You have kept people from falling into abject poverty. You have helped them realize more fully who God made them to be. You have kept hope alive! You have shared God’s love and mercy. You have helped families set a new pathway in life.
In 2022 alone, Ossana, Leah, Mary, Mark and many other students are back in high school. Gerald was able to buy a laptop and has initiated his online studies in Biology/PreMed with a university in Washington State. Joseph, Esther, Sharon and many young children have been assisted with much needed, even critical healthcare and treatments. Families have kept going because of food aid. Twenty youth learned to make beautiful sandals to wear or sell for additional income. Hearts have been uplifted through the spiritual programs offered through our partners.
You have blessed so many lives. May God also richly bless you! Laura
Join us as we launch a monthly giving circle to share our blessings. We are called to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. At eChange Endeavors we do this by supporting widows, single parents, orphans and those with disabilities either directly or through local Catholic institutions. We seek to leverage previous investments made in education, personal development or institutional capacities to ensure those at risk won’t fall by the wayside. Together we are helping to transform problems into opportunities inspiring hope and strengthening community!
We help hardworking mothers such as Gloria to ensure they can provide for their children. When she needed a hip replacement surgery due to an accident, we stepped in to help. We also supported Pascal to finish University after his Mother died and his Father was no longer able to generate enough income for both him and his younger brother who was still attending high school. When Esther’s husband died, we assisted with food and helped her start a micro business. Later when the eldest reached high school we helped with the higher fees. We have given a small grant to Children’s Community Care to finish a classroom for children with mental disabilities so that mothers would have a safe, clean, and stimulating environment in which to leave their children while they went to work in the street markets.
We also raise funds for OcerCampion Jesuit College both scholarships and an additional housing for international volunteers to work at the school. We are seeking resources for technology and textbooks for St Athanasius Primary School, which serves mostly poor families living in the slums of Kampala. St. Elizabeth’s Home & Vocational Institute rescues young women from the streets, trafficking and prostitution. We are seeking to raise funds for a solar solution and sewing machines so that local money collected can feed and support more women. We are seeking to help rural health clinics diversify their service capabilities to create a more sustainable model. None of these good works would be possible without your generous support over time.
So join us today and become part of our circle of giving to ensure we can say YES to helping our brothers and sisters in Uganda when we receive their requests. To join simply click on our DONATE button that will take you to a PayPal payment page. You can pay via PayPal, credit or debit card. Just make sure to tick the box for re-occurring payments and your giving will be automatically processed each month.
$10/month enables an entrepreneur to start or grow a microenterprise
$20/month enables young adults to participate in Catholic youth camps
$25/month provides one teacher with a mini-laptop
$30/month supports a student in primary school
$50/month provides a small grant to a health clinic or partner
Thank you for becoming part of our Endeavors Circle of love and hope in the world!
Thank you for your prayers and support for our recent visit to Uganda. Here is our first video telling Gloria’s story. We hope you enjoy getting to know her.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B9AtRbzzZg]
Please share the video with your family and friends, as you never know who might be touched and inspired by her journey with Christ. Her faithfulness and hopefulness in God despite her challenges inspires me daily!
Currently, we have raised $1200 of the $2000 required to cover her hip surgery. Please help us to raise the remaining $800 by giving, sharing and praying for Gloria.
Blessings of Mercy upon you!
Unexpected medical crises send a family quickly into a downward spiral of economic depletion, poverty and hopelessness. As we enter into Holy Week, the pain of the Passion gives way to the joy of Easter. Let us help bring renewed hope to our sisters and brothers in Christ suffering with health issues.
“And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did for one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.'” Matthew 25:40
Gloria is a single mother in her early thirties who has been disabled since she was 11 
years old. She was the victim of a traumatic boda-boda accident that shattered her right hip. Already an orphan, the extended family had no resources for her care, so the hip became infected and dysfunctional. This in turn affected the growth of her right leg. In 2011, she was in dire need of hip surgery now for her left hip as it had born the brunt of 17 years of the right hip not functioning properly. We raised resources for her initial hip replacement surgery. Since she was forced to leave school after primary three, she is only qualified to do manual labor. She works as a nanny and sews beautiful bags and clothes to provide an income for her and her child. This type of manual labor has caused problems and the hip now requires re-cementing. It costs $2000 for this follow-on surgery in Uganda. She is living in pain everyday until the surgery can be performed. Help Gloria come pain free again with your contribution today!
Simon Peter is another young, dynamic catholic your leader who participated in our Youth Building Peace program. His Father was diagnosed 
with esophagus cancer in 2015. Consequently, all the available family resources have been put towards his father’s surgery and treatments, which he is still on-going. This has left no resources for Simon Peter to finish his B.A. in Education at St Lawrence University in Uganda. He is only four months from graduating and being able to work as a secondary teacher, and able to contribute back to his family. He needs $1500 to settle all is outstanding university fees for the year. Help Simon Peter graduate in May and begin teaching the next generation of youth!
Ann Ruth, a dynamic Catholic youth leader in Uganda, only 28 years of age, was 
diagnosed in November 2015 with 3rd stage bladder cancer after nearly nine months of ill health and testing. The only treatment available required that she fly to India for innovative surgery and recovery. This health crisis has put the family in debt $21,000US. While gratefully she is recovering well, the family is now burden with this enormous debt. We are seeking to raising $7,000 to cover one-third of it for the family. Help AnnRuth and her family get out of debt and back to building their family together!
With only a little amount you can make a radical difference in the lives of these families, today and for generations to come. As we close Lent I invite you to inspire hope in these families by giving today!
Thank you for keeping all our grant recipients and their families in your prayers!
